The Day After

What occurs to me is that choosing a subject to write about is difficult; there is truly a universe of material.  My first concern here is produce a thoughtful script, which will generate conversation.  At my age, I have finally learned that I am not always right.  Nor do I know everything.  Frankly, that is  not humility, merely realism.  As a consequence, I hope that when I write something which is either wrong or disagreeable that you will comment, but nicely.  My second concern and first chore is to figure out the nuances of the host site, so I can make this effort worth your time and mine.  I would like to make access easy, commenting easier, and finding this spot easiest. 

Although I decided whimsically to create this blog, as a means to express my thoughts, and gather yours, I want you to know what I will be writing about in future entries.  In an election year, what else but politics.  But I intend to talk about other topics which affect me, you and the world.  The environment, space exploration, books, movies, sports, politics, finance, the Occupy movement, education, gardening, food, politics, QVC, Christmas, friendship and family-ship, health care, Medicare, housing and mortgages, the Constitution, pets, charities, employment and unemployment, social media, politics, and lists.  This is not intended to exhaust the options.  And if you leave comments, I have even more to talk about. 

Hopefully, this will be fun, and occasionally funny.  Thanks for stopping by!

I'd like to introduce myself

What occurs to me is that having something worthwhile to say requires thought more significant than a Tweet or sound bite.  If writing about anything is to be worth the effort, then what you say has to be worthy of any reader who might stop by.  So if you are one of those, thank you.  This is my first post, and not likely to be the last. 

To start, let me tell you a little about myself.  You can decide if you want to go further after that.  I am a white male, nearly at retirement age.  I have been writing for many years, just never attempted to publish, until recently.  I hold bachelor's and master's degrees from Cornell.  I grew up in NY, but have had the pleasure of living in various parts of the country, and have traveled the US on the ground, not only at 32,000 feet.  I am a reader, which will certainly be part of future posts.  I love movies, but watch mainly on TV.  I used to be a jock.  I am a boot strap liberal, and a meat and potatoes conservative.  More about that later.  I am a political junkie, and have been for more than 40 years.  I enjoy music, with a fallback to the music of the 1960s.  Hey, its when I grew up.  I'm married with grown children.  I grew up with the NY Yankees, when the Dodgers were in Brooklyn, and the Giants played at the Polo Grounds.  I saw Mickey Mantle, Duke Snider and Willie Mays hit home runs, while I was in the stands.  Today, after living in southern New Jersey for more than half my life, I am a "homer", a Phillies fan.  And I still love baseball.

I decided to create this blog because I have felt frustrated by the lack of vocal visibility to many people, and the failure of standard media sources to ask questions that I think should be asked, and to look at events from what hopefully will be a unique perspective.  I love words, because they DO matter.  I hope you will join me and explore the myriad of subjects that makes our world interesting.  And please let me know you're there.

My first comment is simply this:  Jeremy Lin is a great story.  As the first Chinese American making his debut in professional basketball, it's just cool to be able to make the headlines he has made.  In my opinion, what makes his success so significant is not that he is of Chinese ancestry, but that he went to Harvard.  He's smart.  And he's cool.  Maybe we ought to learn that it's cool to be smart.

Thanks for stopping by.